The Birth of Cultural Autonomy in Estonia: How,Why, and for Whom?

The 1925 law on cultural autonomy of minorities guaranteed Estonia's most significant minorities the right to independently decide how they wanted to arrange their own national-cultural matters. In this article I will focus on why Estonia decided to pass a law that was exceptional in the atmosphere of that time. To find an answer, it is necessary also to analyze how (through what process) the law was shaped and for whom the law was ultimately intended. In summary, it can be said that there were about ten factors, which were different, yet interconnected and similar in their impact, and only together did they provide sufficient impetus to make it possible to approve autonomy.     

Article 5: Permanent Neutrality in The Tartu Peace Treaty, 1920

The article argues for the need to develop more multicausal accounts of international relations. It uses the Estonian–Russian political crisis over the relocation of the Bronze Soldier monument in 2007 as a case in point, showing how the ideational, material and institutional structures within the wider international society interact. As such, even cases with clear identity-political root causes can benefit from other factors being inserted into the equation when it comes to analysis. The article concludes by arguing that it is only by embracing multicausality that our chances of arriving at fuller and consequently more truthlike accounts of the events out there are improved.     

Interethnic discordance and stability in Estonia

This article proposes a theoretical model of perceived intergroup stability (STB) consisting of two factors: the perceived strength differential (PSD) between the groups, expressing the changeability of the power relations, and the level of intergroup discordance (D), expressing the level of aversion towards the outgroup combined with the perceptions of legitimacy of intergroup power relations. A quantitative study of Estonian (N?=?538) and Russian-speaking (N?=?460) communities revealed that the perceived stability was highest in monolingual Estonian regions while it was lowest in Russian-speaking eastern Estonia. The findings concur with the results of previous empirical studies, validating the conceptual structure of the theoretical model underlying the current study.     

From princely fiefdoms to Soviet nations: interethnic border conflicts in the North Caucasus and the village of Lesken

This article examines interethnic border conflicts that accompanied the Soviet division of the North Caucasus into ethno-territorial autonomous districts after the Civil War. It traces the tumultuous, and often violent, events that led to the transfer of the ethnically Ossetian village of Lesken from the Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Oblast to the North-Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. The essay shows how the Soviet-sponsored ethnicization of territory exacerbated interethnic tensions in a multiethnic region that defied neat delimitation into coherent ethno-national administrative units. It highlights the ‘dual-assimilation’ that accompanied the introduction of the national principle and the delimitation of national borders. Ethno-national mobilization of populations in defence of their ‘national’ territory from neighbouring ethnic groups, though achieved for reasons of daily survival, represented an initial lesson in the importance of national identity in the modernizing Soviet state, as villagers learned to speak national and Bolshevik. In concluding, this paper seeks to understand the larger significance of Soviet border making in the North Caucasus by exploring issues of continuity and change, both in terms of imperial governance and the lived experience of ethnicity.     

涉外民事关系法律适用法若干争议问题

不宜在涉外民事关系法律适用法中就什么是"涉外"作出规定。最密切联系原则的第二层含义,即确定适用的法律与该涉外民事关系不具有密切联系的,则适用与该涉外民事关系具有最密切联系的法律,有可能妨碍涉外民事关系法律适用法的正确适用。涉外民事关系法律适用法第4条中的强制性规定主要是指我国刑法和行政法、经济法中的强制性规定。涉外民事关系法律适用法对规避未作明确规定,但明确规定不适用反致。涉外民事关系法律适用法允许当事人协议选择动产物权的法律适用,有一定的考虑。鉴于国际条约的复杂性,涉外民事关系法律适用法未规定国际条约的适用问题。     

城乡关系与地方治理改革

关于城乡关系的理论流派可分为自然发展论、城市偏向论、乡村偏向论、城乡统筹论四种类型。目前,中国城乡关系在制度安排上具有显著的城市偏向性,导致市场分工和区位因素形成的城乡差距进一步扩大。为统筹城乡发展,地方治理亟待推进行政体制和公共政策改革,推进市县分治,实施次级城市发展战略,保障城市与县域经济拥有平等的发展权利,保障生产要素自由流动,保障乡村的基本公共服务需求。     

“两个决不会”原理的孕育、形成和发展的历史过程

马克思在《〈政治经济学批判〉序言》中说:"无论哪一个社会形态,在它所能容纳的全部生产力发挥出来以前,是决不会灭亡的;而新的更高的生产关系,在它的物质存在条件在旧社会的胎胞里成熟以前,是决不会出现的。"这就是"两个决不会"原理。通过对"两个决不会"原理的孕育、"两个决不会"原理的形成以及"两个决不会"原理的深化和发展三个方面系统地历史考察和分析,论述了这个原理的理论意义和现实意义。     

Veteran Care in the United Kingdom and the Sustainability of the ‘Military Covenant’

This article assesses how veteran care can be placed at the centre of our understanding of the modern Military Covenant and located as a key issue in contemporary civil–military relations and public policy. Healthcare and welfare provision have become primary manifestations of how the British state fulfils its duty of care towards military personnel. The article aims to present an overview of current provision for veterans of Britain's modern wars and draw conclusions regarding the state's ability to provide short and long‐term healthcare and welfare requirements to veterans as part of the Covenant under the rubric of ‘Big Society’‐inspired policy shifts engendered by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government.     

新时期的美国涉台关系及其制约因素

中美关系与两岸关系的大格局,决定了美国涉台关系的变化趋势.在政治上,美国乐见国民党连续执政和两岸关系的和平发展,但对于台湾被迫走向统一,存有疑虑,希望及时把握两岸和谈的具体进程.美方对台湾在“国防”、“外交”等领域予以多方面支持的目的,从短期看是同步强化美台关系,维护美国在台海地区的既有利益;从长期看则是增加台湾在两岸谈判中的筹码,谋取美国在台湾问题最终解决方案上的主动权.     

中美日三角关系在亚太:理论检视与前景展望

要展望某一种三角关系,首先要弄清楚这一三角关系的构成要件是什么,然后根据这些要件一一检视.本文将沿着这一思路,对中美日三角关系及其未来进行探讨.